


from kissing to boyfriends: a natural progression

by mm_nani



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Meeting the Parents, This is what happens when I don't write porn, What is this feeling, this is just a gratuitous making out fic, what even is this ship, why is this pairing so angst free
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-02 20:45:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11517138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mm_nani/pseuds/mm_nani
Summary: Dele and Eric reach the point in their lives where this happens:Dele looks up at Eric when a couple starts making out on screen. It’s not even the main couple, just some girl the lead is hooking up with. It’s still the first ten minutes of the movie, but then Eric looks down and realizes that he’s starting to recognize the face Dele makes whenever he wants it. And once he recognizes it there’s no way he can resist it....and they're both (mostly) cool about it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am unsure where this angst free ship came from to suddenly ruin my life (just watch one of them transfer to make me eat my words)
> 
> I realized midway writing this that Dele's family situation is all sorts of complicated so mentions of Dele's mom and parents refer to Harry Hickford's family. However, since this is fiction and resemblance to reality is only a coincidence, you can choose to give Dele a happy nuclear family with 60 sisters in your head if you feel like.
> 
> I feel like I was inspired a lot by neyvenger's fic [somebody's arms to fall into](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3525491)
> 
> she writes beautiful fic and i feel like i'm always inspired by her but i thought about that fic often while writing this and not because Deledier is the new Pierreus of my heart.

Eric doesn’t really mind when Dele kisses him.

 

Dele is an affectionate drunk and Eric is used to his roaming hands, or Dele clinging to his back, punctuating the hug with a kiss on the neck or cheek and off mark nipple pinches. Eric doesn’t even notice anymore when Dele is in his personal space. More and more, he’s in his space when they’re sober and Eric almost craves it now, the casual touching and leaning against each other, the private, knowing smiles; going a day without those little Dele things feels surreal.

 

He’s feeling good after two beers and a fantastic win for the Spurs, pokes Dele in the ribs and pretends to be hurt at the brand new handshake he’s got with Harry. Dele, who’s wearing just a shade of trashed, takes the words to heart and looks sad suddenly, murmuring soft words of apologies. Suddenly the tiny part of Eric that _was_ serious grows, flamed under the validations of Dele’s soothing voice.

 

He feels Dele’s hands cradle his face, they’re both a little sweaty and the beer he’s downed makes his cheeks feel too warm. Eric realizes Dele has kissed him once he’s pulling away, after a large showy smooch right on the lips.

 

‘You’re my number one.’ Dele says and the words churn in Eric’s stomach. Dele turns around and walks off  like nothing out of the ordinary happened and has joined some off tune cheer the boys are singing.

 

Eric doesn’t really mind when Dele kisses him but he’s never kissed him on the mouth before.

 

Eric tries not to panic.

 

*

 

Eric panics a little

 

*

 

Eric has kissed people before. It’s less people than one thinks a professional footballer pulls but more than enough to know that people don’t just feel the ghost touch of a simple peck on the lips, for days after.

 

He can feel it almost constantly, the sense memory of Dele’s lips briefly pressed against his and even more intensely so, maybe even more intensely than when it actually happened, when Dele is around him.

Eric is suddenly aware of Dele’s body, like he’s just realizing that Dele comprises of eyes, noses, lips and shoulders like the average human. Eric finds himself focusing on parts of Dele throughout the day. During practice Eric can’t take his eyes off Dele’s legs, the way the muscles of his calves contract when he runs or how those reedy lines run up his thighs when they stretch.

 

Dele walks past him, catches him staring and winks. Eric’s heart stops for a second but then Dele and Sonny are laughing at him and it hits him that it’s a joke.

 

His heart takes a moment to catch up.

 

During lunch, oddly enough it’s his nose. Eric’s never done this before, thought at length about people’s noses, even people he liked.

 

He definitely thinks it’s a weird thing to do but he’s doing it. It baffles him that Dele’s nose is attached to his face. Technically everyone’s nose is attached to their face but there’s something striking about the way Dele’s sits on his face. It’s wide and flares whenever Dele is excited, Dele rubs it a couple of times when they’re eating and the gesture is so adorable that Eric feels warm just thinking about it.

 

Eric feels warm thinking about Dele doing the most mundane things like filling his water bottle, tying his shoes, opening a door. He’s just so excited that Dele was put on this earth and close enough for him to see, know and touch. It’s punctuated with intermittent periods of feeling utterly foolish but then Dele’s back in his sight wiping sweat of his own brow and Eric is filled with wonder once more.

 

When they hit the showers after practice, Dele heads off to have a word with the physios about his hamstring. Showering takes longer than usual because he’s going slightly insane and maybe he just needs hot water beating down on his head to feel back to normal. When he turns off his shower he can hear just one other occupied cubicle, a catchy tune of one of Son’s Korean affair intertwined with the running water.

 

He bumps into Dele when he leaves the shower area. They’re both in towels except Eric smells like citrus and Dele of drying sweat. They just look at each other, Eric focused on the lines of Dele’s jaw while Dele looks back at him quizzically, his shower kit clutched in his hands. The air is humid from the hot water that was just running for the last hour in the showers, Son’s singing is comically loud in the background.

 

A moment of insanity takes over.

 

Eric pushes Dele back against the moist tiles of the bathroom. Dele goes without a fight, only wincing at the sudden cold against his back. The next moment Eric leans in and they’re kissing. He thinks he feels one of Dele’s hands curled around his bicep. Eric’s heart beats loudly in his ears and he doesn’t know if he imagines the soft touch of Dele’s tongue against his lips before Dele is pushing him away softly, a gentle nudge against his bicep.

 

Dele licks his lips, there’s a blush on his cheeks that has nothing to do with training and Eric’s brain short circuits again. He’s about to lean in once more but Dele’s eyes dart nervously behind his head and Eric finally notices that the shower is no longer running.

 

Son is still singing too loudly somewhere in the background.

 

*

 

Eric panics a lot

 

*

 

Eric is clearing up the bottles of beer the lads leave behind. Dele is practicing on his own on the couch, being generally unhelpful during cleanup. This is a common scene.

 

The boys get together at one or the other’s house to play FIFA and hang out, they used to actually play but one of them broke a vase Christian’s mom had given him and that was the end of real footballs inside the house.

 

It’s even common for Eric and Dele to stay over long after the others have left. They’re the kind of friends that nap together or mess about on their respective phones for hours without words just sitting side by side. Sometimes Dele does masks and wrestles one onto Eric’s face as well.

 

What isn’t as familiar is the sort of charged atmosphere between them, Dele’s toes digging into the couch as he keeps playing against the computer with an almost dogged concentration, refusing to acknowledge Eric walking into and out of his line of sight.

 

Eric knows it’s because they kissed. He picks up bottles and throws them into recycling one by one, to stall, so he doesn’t have to sit next to Dele and bring up what he did. He feels annoyed at the prospect of apologizing. He takes a deep breathe as he tosses the last bottle into the bin, the sound of glass hitting glass not nearly loud enough to distract him from the daunting prospect of saying anything to Dele.

 

There’s not as much talking with birds, when you kiss them they just sort of assume you’re together and a couple of months down the line, they meet your parents and become your girlfriend. The social etiquette on that is neat and understood.

 

‘Last match?’ Dele says holding up the second controller and Eric is relieved that he doesn’t have to talk but also worried about what ‘last’ means.

 

Last of the day? Of their friendship?

 

Is this how men politely turn each other down?

 

Eric grabs the controller and tries not to be half hearted about it. It’s impossible to be half hearted with Dele, who’s sincere about everything and bouncing excitedly when he scores. Eric's casual attitude in the beginning ends up costing him and he loses.

 

Dele jumps onto the couch to do a little dance and throws his controller onto it while Eric rolls his eyes. Then Dele drops to his knees, next to Eric, leaning close, stealing a kiss. Eric looks tentatively back at Dele who’s still leaning towards him on his hands and knees on the couch. Dele’s face is open and he’s smiling gently, telling Eric it’s alright, everything's alright, the tension in his shoulders the only sign of his nervousness.

 

Eric pulls him in with a hand around his neck and Dele falls into him, his weight perfect against him, his heat bleeding in through their light summer t-shirts. Eric ends up on his back with Dele’s hands on either side of his body, caging him in.

 

It feels a little too much, too soon and Eric’s head swims from the knowledge of Dele on top of him, of Dele’s lips against his. Dele starts to sit up without breaking the kiss, pulling Eric up with him. He shakily breathes into Eric’s mouth, before pulling away very slightly, their noses still brushing. Eric goes cross eyed trying to look at him.

 

‘I’ve got to go.’ Dele whispers against him and Eric whines, holds him tighter. Dele laughs but Eric doesn’t relent, he can be embarrassed about it after Dele’s gone but right now, he just wants him to stay.

 

He manages to wheedle fifteen more minutes from Dele.

 

*

 

To Eric’s delight, they kiss often.

 

It eventually becomes a game of tag. After that time Dele kissed him in his house, Eric kisses Dele, soft and quick, in their empty common room, barely catching the corner of his lips. And then Dele pulls him into an empty storage room and giggles as they make out like giddy teenagers. Then it’s Eric’s turn to surprise him with a kiss in Dele’s hallway when he picks him up for a shopping trip.

 

They eventually lose count between flirty brushes of fingertips after hugs or covert groping whenever they’re standing in line and the multiple times in the day that they find themselves melting into each other from the heat of their kisses.

 

Harry looks at them funny, unsure if he’s seeing a difference. To be perfectly honest, they’re unsure too. They touch a lot more in private of course but publicly they might be less touchy than usual. Clinging to each other now comes with the unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on the situation) side effect of getting a boner. They also avoid each other on the field sometimes so that they don’t unwittingly wind each other up. There’s a rubbing one out in the stadium showers incident that Eric doesn’t want to repeat, talk about or even remember.

 

*

 

They’re languidly making out at Eric’s. They didn’t mean to just start making out, not really. Dele said they would be playing FIFA but he comes in and turns a movie on and lies with his head in Eric’s lap instead.

 

Dele looks up at Eric when a couple starts making out on screen. It’s not even the main couple, just some girl the lead is hooking up with. It’s still the first ten minutes of the movie, but then Eric looks down and realizes that he’s starting to recognize the face Dele makes whenever he wants it. And once he recognizes it there’s no way he can resist it. He’s leaning down even before Dele’s wrapped his hand around his neck to pull him down.

 

Dele sits up before Eric can start complaining about the angle (he wouldn’t have).

 

They continue kissing softly, lingering kisses that makes Eric’s chest bloom, makes Eric want to keep Dele so that he can watch him exist next to him for all of eternity.

 

‘Mom wants to meet my boyfriend.’ Dele says and the easy atmosphere gives way to a nervous energy. The shift in their relationship from best friends attached at the hip to best friends attached at the hip who makes out often had seemed almost seamless, the only natural way it could go.

 

But Eric is unpleasantly reminded of a rulebook he does not have.

 

Dele stumbles, ‘The person I’m seeing or you know-like hanging out and doing stuff with. I don’t know how she found out but when she asked point blank i couldn-

 

Eric stops him with a hand on his cheek, ‘When?’

 

‘Monday for tea after training? Or...or dinner if you don’t mind.’

 

‘Dele, I’ve had dinner with your family before.’

 

‘Yeah but this time it’s-it’s different.’

 

‘Are you telling her it’s me?’

 

‘What?’

 

‘Will you tell her I’m the boyfriend?’

 

‘Oh.’ Dele looks at him for a minute digesting Eric’s words, even though he was the one to say it first.

 

‘Or I could just show up and she can figure it out on her own.’ A little bit like how they went about it.

 

Dele grins, ‘Yeah, that’d be hilarious.’


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eric has dinner with Dele's family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two here upon request! I am really weak to people telling me they enjoy my fics before telling me to write more. That's legit how to make me write more lol
> 
> Dele's family here is Harry Hickford's family.
> 
> I ATTEMPTED BRIT SLANG SORRY LOOOOL

‘Eric!’ Dele’s mum, Sally, exclaims when she opens the door, ‘Dele invited you too! Have you met him?’ She takes his jacket and leans in conspiratorially, ‘We’ve been excited to meet the mystery boyfriend.’

 

He looks at Sally for a minute trying to figure out whether she’s joking. When they decided to not announce that Eric was the one dating Dele before the dinner, Eric didn’t think he’d be in a scenario where he would have to announce it himself.

 

It’s not ideal.

 

‘I was mad that he didn’t tell me but it seemed important to make this grand announcement. Glad to see you weren’t in on it either.’ Harry says with a playful punch to Eric’s shoulder and Eric looks at Dele helplessly. Dele’s wide eyed expression mirrors exactly how Eric feels.

 

Harry pulls Eric to sit with Dele’s dad, Alan, in front of the television. Alan has a beer open in front of him, the perspiration on the bottle suggests he’s had it for a while but it’s still full, ‘the wife forbids drinking before the boyfriend gets here.’ Alan tells him, ‘can’t get too sloppy.’ He’s tapping the neck of the beer like he’s waiting for the boyfriend to get here so he can chug it and relax.

 

Eric’s stomach churns, he can feel Dele’s eyes boring into the back of his head, urging him to do something.

 

Eric stays silent. In his defense, Dele does too.

 

In all honesty, they had expected there to be an, ‘oh Eric it’s you!’ moment, maybe some cheers and good natured jesting before a pleasant dinner. This is something else entirely, with Dele looking wildly uncomfortable and the Hickfords trying to covertly check the clock every 10 seconds.

 

‘I’ll just set another place at the table.’ Harry says getting up, Eric can feel the undercurrent of tension in the room, Dele’s family really want to make his boyfriend feel at home and Eric, already at home with his family, is now sitting stiff like there’s pins digging into his butt.

 

Eric has this insane idea to just kiss Dele. It worked with Dele, it could work with the Hickfords too, right?

 

‘He’s a little late, isn’t he love?’ Susan says, trying her best not to sound critical and Dele looks at Eric this time, urging with his eyes to say something.

 

‘Mrs. Hickford.’ Eric starts and stops because words are really not his strong suit. The room waits in silence

 

‘It’s him.’ Dele finally finishes.

 

‘What?’ Sally asks.

 

Dele makes a gesture with his hand, ‘Eric is-Eric is-

 

Eric nods, ‘Yes, I am-uh- _courting_ your son.

 

The Hickfords look at them in complete silence and Eric has the sudden urge to either apologize or ask for Dele’s hand.

 

He clears his throat and a snort from Harry cuts through the tension. Harry promptly bursts into laughter the next moment and soon the whole room is laughing while Dele and Eric blink at each other, dumbstruck.

 

Harry slaps him good naturedly on the back, ‘who says _courting_ , mate?’

 

Eric blushes and Sally pats him reassuringly, ‘we knew you were the boyfriend, love.’

 

‘What?’ This time it’s Dele, looking a mix between perplexed and put off.

 

‘Aw don’t be mad, bruv. You two aren’t really subtle, are you?’ Harry says, ‘we’re just taking the piss, mate.’

 

Dele looks like he’s about to argue. Even Eric has so many questions regarding how they know and when they figured it out and _are they obvious to the team? To Pochettino?_

 

‘Let’s get to dinner before the chicken gets cold, okay?’ Alan says coming behind Dele and patting him on the head soothingly, cutting off the building tirade. Dele deflates and takes a seat.

 

*

Sally scoops out a giant second helping of mashed potatoes onto his plate. Eric can use his profession and strict diet to dissuade her but the table is filled with mirth and Sally is looking at him like he’s one of her own.

 

Eric is feeling a bone deep contentment, shoving food down his mouth and joking around with Dele’s family.

 

But most of all it’s Dele, eating his food with the softest, happiest expression Eric’s ever seen on his face. He keeps glancing at Eric shyly, filling him with warmth every time their eyes meet.

 

Eric startles from a sudden tickle against his ankle. Dele grins at him from across the table and Eric has to pretend he’s had a muscle spasm as Harry gets up to massage him worriedly. Eric wants to take revenge but then the foot settles against his ankle, not teasing, just a comforting touch.

 

It takes all of Eric’s willpower to not reach across the table and trace the fond expression on Dele’s face with his fingers.

 

*

 

‘I’ll walk Eric to his car.’ Dele says when Eric takes leave. He sounds nonchalant enough but the terse way he holds his shoulders suggests that he’s barely just keeping his hands off Eric.

 

‘Alright, love.’ Sally replies with a knowing smile.

 

Dele takes Eric’s hand and pulls him outside, Eric feels the urgency too after an entire night of not being able to touch, the need to hold Dele thrumming under his skin.

 

Eric wraps his arms around him as soon as the door clicks shut and Dele pushes their foreheads together, feeling the rise and fall of Eric’s breathe against his own chest.

 

Their lips meet, soft and lingering, Dele’s cheek feels heated under his palm.

 

‘You charmed the knickers off the lot.’ Dele whispers against him. Eric kisses him again.

 

‘There’s just one set of knickers I’m interested in taking off though.’ It’s a very sincere thought and it’s out before Eric has really thought it through. Before he can feel mortified though Dele surges against him, kissing him deeper, control fraying a little. Dele grabs Eric’s hands and pushes them down, down until his palms are slipping past the swell of his ass and Eric’s stomach somersaults as he squeezes.

 

It’s really the first time either of them have ventured below the belt and Eric feels lightheaded as Dele nips at his lips between needy whimpers.

 

There’s a loud knock against the closed front door and they can hear Harry cackling behind it.

 

Dele laughs around a shaky breath, ‘okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ he says putting some distance between them.

 

Eric pulls him back, ‘or you can come back to mine?’

 

Dele stops Eric from coming closer with a hand on his chest, ‘They’re gonna think we’re going to shag.’

 

‘Well…’ Eric starts and Dele blushes and slaps his shoulder.

 

‘What? I’m just saying they know we’re adults.’

 

‘Goodnight, Dier.’ Dele finally says but instead of pulling away he only inches closer kissing against Eric’s jaw and Eric pulls Dele in with a finger under his chin to kiss him properly.

 

‘Goodnight.’

 

*

 

Eric waits until he’s parked into his driveway before giving in to the urge to call.

 

Arse-over-tits he is, it doesn’t even embarrass him anymore.

 

‘I can still come back.’ He says once Dele picks up.

 

Dele starts laughing and Eric chuckles too, Dele looks at him like he wants him to.

 

‘Tomorrow night.’ Dele says and the words have the undercurrent of a promise that Eric doesn’t miss.

 

‘You’ll show me your knickers?’

 

‘I’ll take them off.’ Dele says it like a joke but Eric can feel a shiver running down his spine. Dele swallows before running a hand over his face, ‘now hang up before our first time together is rubbing one out over FaceTime.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations for making it to the end. I realize that there's like 6 million of these kinds of Deledier out there but they're just too adorable so I had to make just one more.
> 
> I am on [tumblr](https://manaholic-mongolian.tumblr.com/) and super into Deledier so I am really open to requests and headcannons and general yelling. Comments and kudos are much appreciated!


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